Frivilligas roll för upprätthållandet av samhällets resiliens under flyktingsituationen 2015

Sammanfattning: During the years, societies have faced different complex and hazardous events which has put their resilience to test. The refugee crisis is one event that usually do not fall within the framework of what a country or a political sector is prepared for. In the autumn 2015, when large numbers of refugees arrived at Malmö central station, no authorities were prepared and present to receive the people on the run. It was the civil society that were first in place to receive the refugees with food, clothes and accommodation. This thesis tries to investigate the volunteers’ role for maintaining the society’s resilience during the refugee crisis event in Malmö 2015. By researching the concept of resilience, volunteers and analyzing interviews with concerned actors, connections between the volunteers’ role and the society’s resilience could be conducted. The analysis concluded that volunteers played a major role for the society’s ability to receive the refugees and help the refugees that did not want to seek asylum in Sweden. The volunteers were flexible with great ability to self-organize and generate resources. Further, the relationship between the authorities and volunteers varied where several conflicts prevented an ideal cooperation. Without the help of the civilians, it can be stated that the situation would have been a lot more severe. Furthermore, the thesis may also provide indicators of further research on how to use voluntary resources in the future in unexpected events.